The Noughties F1 Review- Best and Worst

Earlier today, I wrote about my thoughts on how the noughties changed F1 forever. Now, we look at the decade’s best and worst moments for many types of categories. So here we go:

Car of the decade: Ferrari F2004- Fastest car in F1 history says a lot. It was so fast that Schumacher could win a race even after spinning to the back in the first lap, like Italy 2004. Completely dominant.

Worst car of the decade: Honda RA108- Ugly, slow and hopeless. The upside was that it allowed Honda to have 6 premature months to develop the soon-to-be Brawn BGP001, a double championship winner.

Best driver: Michael Schumacher- Not a hard decision this, as complete domination of many years placed him in the record books. His reputation was occasionally damaged, with cheating at Monaco 2006 one of these, but Schumacher will always go down as a legend. It’s good to see him back next year.

Worst driver: Yuji Ide- As easy as the decision above. Three races, constant spins and mistakes, then a kamikaze move on Albers in Imola 2006 kills his F1 career off. Having your superliscence revoked by the FIA says it all.

Race of the decade: Brazil 2008- The most epic sporting finale ever. Winning the 2008 championship on the last corner on the last lap, then for the loser to display pure sporting dignity afterwards is pure F1.

Funniest moment: Plenty here. Kimi’s “I was having a shit” interview is my favourite personally! But we also had great tv ads, like “the best job in the world, feat. Kimi and Montoya”, and the brilliant “Alonso vs Hamilton” Mercedes ad. Comment if you remember any more.

Worst/Saddest moment: For me, it was Brazil 2008, because Massa deserved it more than Hamilton did in my opinion. However, Felipe’s sporting dignity and pride is something to be hugely admired. Also, another bad moment was Massa’s crash this year.

Worst overtaking attempt: I suppose Ide on Albers (Imola 2006) takes the cake here. Also, Hamilton’s attempt on Raikkonen in Spa 2008 was quite stupid. You’re never going to overtake around the outside of the Bus Stop chicane…

Overtake-fest: Silverstone 2003- It barely went a lap without the order changing. Proof that old historic circuits can always produce great racing.

Overtake-drought: Valencia. Pick either year, it doesnt really matter does it? In 2 years, the only mildly interesting thing thats happened is Raikkonen running over his pit crew, and thats not funny. Shows how desperate we were.

Best team: Ferrari- I dont actually want to pick them, because they cheated and manipulated races (Austria 2001 and 2002), which makes them as bad as Piquet. But, money speaks in F1, and the Scuderia had lots of it. This enabled them to control the first half of the decade.

Worst team- I hate to put down people, but the Honda management were dumb and dumberer. Selling your F1 team while in the middle of creating a gem of a car- not smart.

Best new track: Istanbul- Struggling to get spectators, but still very good. Overtaking is a bit tricky though.